Charles Nicklos

Charles Nicklos was among the first wave of Hard Oilers to answer the advertisement posted by Berheim and McGarvey looking for Canadian oil men to develop the fields of Galicia (modern Poland and Ukraine). Nicklos was born in New York State in 1853 and after the death of his mother and subsequently his father, he moved to London, Ontario with his step-mother where he obtained a job at a refinery. In 1879, he married Jessie McDowell and they had two children before moving to Petrolia, where they had two more children. In Petrolia, Nicklos worked as a chemist for the M.J. Woodward and Co refinery and though he never received formal education, he was praised with having a “wonderful mechanical mind". 

When McGarvey and Berheim were looking for skilled workers in 1885, Nicklos travelled to Europe to begin the laborious task of sinking new oil wells, and eventually became a manager. Due to his experience with the M.J. Woodward and Co. refinery in Petrolia, Nicklos was asked by McGarvey to supervise the construction of the first oil refinery for Bergheim and McGarvey in Maryampol. When it appeared that his work in Galicia would continue, Charles Nicklos sent for his family in 1888 and moved to Gorlice in the Carpathian Mountains. 

Once the construction of the refinery had been completed, Nicklos returned to the oil fields as a supervisor and relocated his family near the Kroscienko mine. Nicklos grew increasingly successful but something changed quite suddenly before the First World War. At the age of 61, Nicklos lost his job through unknown circumstances. His good friend Jacob Perkins wrote to him, declaring that he was sure to find another job soon. The war had created a huge demand for oil and markets were booming. Instead, Charles Nicklos relocated his entire family to the United States where they settled in Wisconsin as dairy farmers, an unusual second career for an ex-oil driller.